A is for Alibi: A Kinsey Millhone Mystery (Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series Book 1)

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Kinsey begins her reinvestigation into Laurence Fife's murder with a visit to the Santa Teresa Police Department where she asked Lieutenant Con Dolan for a look at the Fife case files. Because Nikki had been convicted by a jury who purportedly weighed the evidence presented by both the prosecuting and defense attorneys, she wasn't expecting to discover any new evidence. But she was startled to find that just 4 days after Laurence Fife died after ingesting allergy medication laced with oleander, a young woman named Libby Glass, who had been an accountant in Fife's law firm, had also died from oleander poisoning. The police had been aware of Libby Glass's death but hadn't been able to connect her death to Nikki Fife. Con Dolan was certain that Nikki had also murdered Libby Glass but Kinsey wasn't so sure. Kinsey believed Nikki had been telling her the truth and she was determined to follow the new clues to get to the bottom of the mystery of just who murdered Laurence Fife and Libby Glass.. and why.

Grafton died at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara on December 28, 2017, after a two-year battle with cancer of the appendix. [1] [22] [38] [10]The plot felt a bit nebulous to me, instead of being compact and fully-formed. Sure, there’s a murder—well, multiple ones actually—and there’s a case of insurance fraud that Kinsey investigates, but it all proved a bit simpler than I would have liked. Maybe it was the climax and ending that whipped me completely out of alignment, with their rifle-like resolutions where my ears were still ringing from the blasts. a b Crace, John (March 18, 2013). "Sue Grafton: 'My childhood ended when I was five' ". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017 . Retrieved December 31, 2017. Everett, Todd (May 23, 1991). "Mystery Town: Whodunit author Sue Grafton lives in Santa Barbara and sets her tales in Santa Teresa". Los Angeles Times. p.J15. a b c d e f "Bouchercon World Mystery Convention: Anthony Awards and History". Bouchercon.info . Retrieved March 5, 2012.

Kinsey had been to the trial eight years previously and formed an opinion then – she felt that Nikki was innocent but with the length of time since it had all happened, the case was definitely a cold one. She would be starting from scratch on her very first case. As she began digging into the lives of the people who had been connected to the divorce lawyer – his ex-wife, his children, his law partner – she was frustrated. She couldn’t get anything to gel; nothing felt right. She travelled from California to LA, to Vegas, to the various places that she deemed necessary; but it seemed she had a lot of paperwork and not much else. I thought about Nikki as I drove. I had tossed the manila folder full of clippings on the passenger seat but I really didn't need to look at them. Laurence Fife had done a lot of divorce work and he had a reputation as a killer in court. He was cold, methodical, and unscrupulous, taking any advantage he could. In California, as in many states, the only grounds for divorce are irreconcilable differences or incurable insanity, which eliminates the trumped-up adultery charges that were the mainstay of divorce attorneys and private eyes in the old days. There is still the question of property settlements and custody—money and children—and Laurence Fife could get his clients anything. Most of them were women. Out of court, he had a reputation as a killer of another kind and the rumor was that he had mended many a broken heart in that difficult period between interlocutory and final decrees. Grafton was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, the Ross Macdonald Literary Award, three Shamus Awards, and many other honors and awards.A” Is for Alibi gets an A+ for continuing perfection three decades later. I’m certain Lew Archer is resting easy knowing Santa Teresa remains in good hands. Kinsey has solved the case she was hired to investigate; but in a plot twist, she discovers that her previous notions about the accountant's death were entirely wrong: in fact, it was Scorsoni who killed her when she discovered he was skimming dividend money from estate accounts under his management. Scorsoni used the same method that Gwen used to kill Fife, so it would be assumed the same person committed both murders. In a final confrontation, he chases Kinsey across the beach, armed with a knife. Kinsey hides in the shore line, and she is forced to remove her shoes and pants. Before Scorsoni can kill her, she shoots him dead. The first book in the Kinsey Millhone series. Though I love the series, the first book did have some issues. I think at times the book's flow got a bit rough. And the characters are not very developed yet. Grafton gives a short description of Kinsey. It takes a lot of books to find out about her last, how she came to live with her aunt, and her past marriages. Getting the build up to all of that is wonderful though. a b c Loosemore, Bailey (December 29, 2017). "Sue Grafton, internationally acclaimed mystery author and Louisville native, dies". Louisville Courier-Journal . Retrieved December 30, 2017. Okay. So, Kinsey is a private investigator who is looking into an old murder after the person who was wrongfully convicted gets out of prison. This story is completely procedural as she goes through her steps of solving the crime. Did I solve it before her? Yes. Of course I did. But, there was one little detail that surprised me, so that was fun. I didn't expect two different killers.

If there's one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer--and sharper--than she imagined. Sue Taylor Grafton (April 24, 1940 – December 28, 2017) was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" ( "A" Is for Alibi, etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she said the strongest influence on her crime novels was author Ross Macdonald. Before her success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies. We get broad strokes to other characters we will get to know later on the series like Henry Pitts, Rosie, and Lieutenant Dolan. I do wish we had a chance to spend more time with them in this first book, but Grafton focuses on the case that Kinsey is working as well as a romance that comes out of nowhere. Joshi, S. T. "Sue Grafton: Hard-Boiled Female." In Varieties of Crime Fiction (Wildside Press, 2019) ISBN 978-1-4794-4546-2.

Maybe you’ve heard this one before,” she went on, “but I didn’t kill Laurence and I want you to find out who did.” a b c d e Myers, Marc (August 22, 2017). "Author Sue Grafton's Scary Childhood Home". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017 . Retrieved December 30, 2017. stars to A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton, the first book in the Kinsey Millhone private investigator cozy mystery series. It's the book that started it all for me... And if Kinsey is supposed to have her shit together, then why is she the dumbest bitch EVER?!?!?! I mean, do y’all remember what happens in this book???? Grafton first married in 1959, aged 18, to James L. Flood, with whom she had a son and a daughter. The two divorced by the time Grafton graduated from college in 1961. Her second marriage was with Al Schmidt in 1962 but it ended with protracted divorce and custody proceedings over their daughter. [34]

I had thought her eyes were dark but I could see now that they were a metallic gray. Her look was level, flattened-out, as though some interior light were growing dim. She seemed to be a lady without much hope. I had never believed she was guilty myself but I couldn’t remember what had made me so sure. She seemed passionless and I couldn’t imagine her caring enough about anything to kill. a b Powell, Steven (2012). 100 American Crime Writers. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp.138–41. ISBN 978-0-230-52537-5 . Retrieved December 30, 2017. a b Carlson, Michael (January 3, 2018). "Sue Grafton obituary". The Guardian . Retrieved February 23, 2018.

Sue Grafton was a #1 New York Times bestselling author. She is best known for her “alphabet series” featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. Prior to success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies. Her earlier novels include Keziah Dane (1967) and The Lolly-Madonna War (1969), both out of print. In the book Kinsey and Me she gave us stories that revealed Kinsey's origins and Sue's past.